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Speaker's Statement

Thank you for your statement, Mr. Speaker, and for granting the debate. I also thank the hon. Members in all parts of the House and the very many members of the public who expressed support for me over the weekend. May I make it absolutely clear that I believe that Members of Parliament are not above the law? Those who have the real power in this country—Ministers, senior civil servants and the police—are not beyond the law or beyond scrutiny, either. An MP endangering national security would be a disgrace; an MP exposing embarrassing facts about Home Office policy that Ministers are hiding is doing a job in the public interest. The day when exposing facts that Ministers would prefer to keep hidden becomes a crime will be a bad day for democracy in this country.